My okras seeds came from Alan Tan’s amazing edibles garden and were sowed on December 27, 2015.
These were amazing fresh seeds that germinated in 4 days.
Alan Tan took much care to prepare these seeds for sharing among the gardening communities.
We were gifted with red and green okra seeds and exchanged some of our seeds with pleasure.
Alan recommended transplanting them to a bigger pot when 6 leaves are present, but as usual, we were running out of space indoors and they were moved to outdoor gardens much earlier!
We were to regret later not transplanting them to a bigger size pot.
A plastic rim was used to support the young seedling.
It was removed when stems grew stronger.
Green Okras were transplanted to 30L pot and flowered earlier than the red.
This green okra’s journey has not been easy. Grasshoppers almost killed this plant by feasting on its leaves at 2 months old.
The growing journey is slow down but it did not die, and today it’s still fruiting.
Thus I considered okra to be an easy plant to grow even for beginners, as it is a hardy plant.
Once problems arose and treated as they happened, this plant will recover on its own.
For the grasshoppers’ problem, I used Pak Mat’s homemade pesticide recipe to spray on the leaves and plant.
TIP – Stronger Plant + Faster Flowers + Fruiting in Bigger Pot
OBSERVATION – Tall Plants in small pots will topple in high wind
OBSERVATION – Tall plant in small pot grew thinner okras
TIP – Snipping off the topmost stem encourages lower okras growth
New okras at lower-most stem after topping off method applied.
Size of okras harvested from topped off plant.
By cutting off the top of the okra plant, its fruits will grow at the lowermost stem!
Topped off plants did not die or grow taller, but new leaves and fruit start developing at the lowermost of the stem, making for easier harvest!
However we found that the fruiting had slowed, instead of 2 – 3 fruits at one go, it now fruits one at a time.
Lessons learned from our first okra experience –
- Bigger pot is needed for healthier okra plants
- The roots are quite massive and they need a lot of room in the pots
- If the pot is too small, the okra plant will grow very tall and it was easy to topple when there were strong gusty winds
- The okras were also skinny, not as juicy
Otherwise, these are relatively easy edibles to grow even for beginners. 🙂
We are sure many gardening enthusiasts in various gardening communities seen Alan Tan’s bountiful okras harvest postings. He made it seem so easy to grow them!
These okras were from Alan Tan’s garden, a simple gift that touched our hearts because we knew the care he took to grow them. Thank you, Alan Tan!
Hi~ I am Anna,have just started gardening in a small HDB. your blog has been a source of inspiration and tips for taking care of my garden. So far I have mint,pandan and lemon grass. Fingers crossed… I tend to have brown fingers. I am thinking of growing Okra next…. can I just get the seeds from the raw okras I buy from supermarket?
Hi Anna,
I am not sure about seeds from the supermarkets for okras. But I do have some left from my friend, Alan Tan. If you can email me, I will sent you some as I still have extra seeds to share. Email address is at home page.
Thank you! Sorry, I can’t see the email clearly from the homepage. I see summernite2001@ an envelope picture.com.sg. Tried clicking. Nothing.
Rgds, Anna
Yahoo in the middle
Hi! I’m trying to grow some Okras from my hdb. May I know the process of germinating the seeds? I’m a little clueless but would like to try out! 🙂
Okra is easy, just be mindful it can grow really tall so the pot should be a relatively big one (else it may topple when there is strong wind), 8 inches across minimum and just as deep. Any edibles soil is okay.
Thank you. Will I need to pre-soak the seeds in water for about 24 hours or something like that before putting them into the soil? I read that some people do that but not sure if it’s necessary?
How long do you keep your okra plants growing? In temperate countries we know that winter is the end of growing season but how do I know when to uproot my okra plants
Okra grows and produce over 2 years in our tropical climate. If you have to move them when cool weather arrives, would suggest to grow them in aeration or air pruning pot rather than in ground. Have not seen winter effect on plants in our climate, thus unable to advise on symptoms to look for uprooting.
thanks. I meant uproot them in the tropics. When the main stems are too tall, is it possible to cut them off and allow the side shoots to replace the main stems?
Yes, they are ok w topping off, meaning you can cut the topmost stem and it will continue to grow. As the post shared, when you top off, usually the fruits grow lower. If your pot is too small, the plant produces fruits in smaller quantity and further apart. Thus for fruits bearing plant, is best in bigger size pot.